Heidi Kahle

“Knowing Thyself” in the Golden Age of Greece

Within the short life span humans are given, there is little time to recognize

oneself and reach enlightenment, a human struggle for which time cannot be quantified.

Even Socrates only began his true work as a philosopher and reached recognition after

inheriting a modest fortune from his father, allowing him to quit his job as a stonemason

and to devote himself to his work and studies while still supporting his family

(Kemerling). Likewise, it was only after many years of his misguided life that Oedipus

recognized his flaws, though still able to save his people from the plague that was

devastating Thebes. One of the main virtues of the Greeks during the Golden Age, to

“know thyself,” could therefore have been an achievement few Greeks ever matched.

Life’s quickly ticking clock is almost too fast for one to really know who they are,

including their glories and their flaws. Few Greeks, then, would become the ideal being;

the strife of war and work were very time-consuming. Their magnificent artwork and

passion for mythology, so intertwined in their activities, reflected their desire to become

familiar with the self. The achievements of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle during the

Greek Golden Age, the play Medea by Euripides, and the play Oedipus the King by

Sophocles all glorify the Greek virtue of self-enlightenment.

The figures who most prompted the Greeks to think for themselves during the

Golden Age were the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates, considered the

first philosopher of the Golden Age, encouraged the Greeks to question themselves and

their moral character. Much of this was done with the Socratic method, in which a

teacher openly asks questions to students in a discussion, forcing them to think on their
own. To Socrates, “the unexamined life” was “not worth living,” as evidenced when he

gave up his working life and devoted himself as a philosopher. Socrates taught his

students to think of questions through honestly for themselves rather than mime proverbs

given by elders interested in material success. However, Pericles and his counselors put

Socrates on trial in 339 B.C. for “corrupting the youth of Athens.” In the Apology, an

account of Socrates’ trial which his student Plato recorded, Socrates blasted the senators,

accusing them of hypocrisy, blind to the need for the youth to become open about self-

decision and the order of Athens, even though Pericles did encourage the Athenians to

“know thyself” as part of honoring the gods and understanding life. Socrates believed that

“in another world” they would not “put a man to death for asking questions,” that it

would be “immortal” if the truth was told. Questioning the self, whether to a miraculous

or horrendous end, was a moral obligation and the greatest virtue in life for Socrates.

After being sentenced to death, Socrates poisoned himself while with his disciples,

rejoiced in what he had inspired in his lifetime. After his death, Plato, his student,

recorded many of his conversations, thus creating a vast array of literary works and

discussions of Socrates. One of these works, The Republic, examined perfectly governed

society with the person with greatest insight and intellect from the ruling class becoming

philosopher-king, full of wisdom. Part of The Republic, The Allegory of the Cave

explored “how people should act, how people know, who people are, and what is true,”

with the enlightened later pitying the ignorant. Self-knowledge and being open to the

truth led to the treasured life: “Last of all he will be able to see the sun… he will see him

in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is.

Certainly.” Plato envisioned prisoners chained and immobile in a cave, watching

shadows cast by puppets behind them, oblivious to the beaming sun and open land

beyond the cave. The work, as well as Plato’s other writings, dominated philosophic

thinking for many years past the Golden Age, even to today (for example, The Matrix).

Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, also questioned the nature of the world and of human belief,

thought, and knowledge, coming up with rules of logic. He thus created a method of

arguing and examining questions that is also used in math and science. All three

philosophers broadened the virtue of “knowing thyself” by encompassing the importance

of questioning one’s being, not just being aware of it, and seeking the truth during the

Golden Age of Greece. Wisdom, which the philosophers so glorified, was a major aspect

of the Greek way of life and learning.

Self-knowledge and awareness, which the philosophers of the Golden Age

examined, were also important aspects which Euripides expressed the importance of in

his play Medea. Starting with Act I of the play, Medea and her huband (who is divorcing

her) are both quite foolish; Medea is ready for any source of quick revenge, while Jason

is foolish for breaking his love in order to be politically advantageous. Medea, outraged

when she learns that Jason has divorced her and plans to marry King Creon’s daughter,

wants vengeance as soon as possible. She remembers all she has given up: “I betrayed

my father for him, I killed my brother to save him, I made my own land to hate me

forever.” However, she does not understand herself enough in order to control the boiling

emotions that lead to her downfall. Jason, on the other hand, does not question the

consequences of running off with Creon’s daughter, Creusa, or the moral aspect of his

situation; his lover, Medea, betrayed her homeland and family for him. In Act II of the

play, Medea seeks her revenge by sending her sons to Creusa with a poisoned gift, which
melts Creusa’s body and bones, a horrific death. Creon embraces his dying daughter and

melts away as well. Utterly distraught, of course, Jason goes to Medea, only to find that

she has killed her own sons to create absolute agony for the man who betrayed her.

Medea even says, “I loathed you more than I loved them,” reflecting her absolute need to

satisfy her flaming fury and to create agony for Jason after his foolish actions. Jason must

suffer for not considering the consequences or the moral aspect of shattering the love

Medea gave up so much for; the chorus even tells him: “You caused these things. She

was faithful to you and you broke faith.” By showing the effects of Medea and Jason’s

flaws, Euripides taught the Golden Age Greeks various virtues through play, including

being aware of oneself and one’s actions. Though Medea was rated poorly, third place of

three plays performed that spring, it still stirred reaction in the Athenian viewers. The

play was like rated poorly because the viewers feared examining self-morality because of

the issues the play brought up with women and treatment of foreigners; the Athenians

were scared to examine themselves as Euripides wished. However, he was still able to

convey a need for reform and for people to examine society, culture, and themselves.

During the growth of artistic and philosophical reflection during the Golden Age,

Euripides showed the importance of the virtue to “know thyself.”

Like Medea, the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles also examined the worth of

recognition as part of the journey of the tragic hero. At the start of the play, Oedipus

shows that he is a compassionate king, by showing his concern during the plague in

Thebes, a colossal catastrophe he must end in order to save his people. Oedipus, though,

is ignorant of the truth, that he is the killer of King Laius, meaning Oedipus has caused

the plague. Tiresias, a blind prophet who gives guidance to Oedipus, is wise and knows
the truth, but Oedipus has a fiery temper when Tiresias refuses the information about the

truth of the plague. Oedipus tells him, “I’ll let loose,” because he has “such a fury,”

further accusing, “you helped hatch the plot…short of killing him with your own hands-

and given eyes I’d say you did the killing single-handed!” (ll. 393-397). This is very

ironic because Tiresias is physically blind and knows the truth, while Oedipus can see but

is blind to the truth and the flaws that destroy him, including his fiery temper and hubris.

Creon even confronts Oedipus about his wicked stubbornness: “Look, if you think crude,

mindless stubbornness such a gift, you’ve lost your sense of balance.” (ll. 615-616). After

much blaming and arrogance with the matter, Oedipus recognizes his flaws, though not in

time to end his downfall. He proclaims, “What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could

see could bring me joy.” (ll. 1472-1473). It is too late for Oedipus to recover the results

of his fate, that he killed his father and bedded his mother, but had he controlled his flaws

better, his downfall would not have caused such horrific things. He would not have

physically blinded himself and agony would possibly not have caused Jocasta, his mother

and wife, to hang herself. However, he overcomes his flaws and decides to help his

people by ordering his own banishment. His last wish is to “drive me out of the land at

once, far from sight, where I can never hear a human voice.” (ll. 1571-1572). Had

Oedipus recognized his flaws earlier and controlled himself, he could have handled his

situation more fluidly, possibly reducing the agony that caused his downfall, his

ignorance, and the death of Jocasta. By portraying the effects of Oedipus’ flaws,

Sophocles showed the Golden Age Greeks the importance of the virtue of knowing

oneself and the potent effect of not recognizing one’s flaws. Sophocles convinced the
Athenians that horrible consequences could come if one does not understand their

attributes and mentality.

Within the time life allots, completely solving the puzzle of “thyself” is a near-

impossible task, especially in time to prevent one’s downfall. The virtues the

philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle stressed were demonstrated in Medea and

Oedipus the King; the main characters of the plays would have benefited by better

understanding themselves, not causing as drastic an effect on others. Medea and Oedipus,

for example, would have both averted their downfalls had they fully understood

themselves in time. Plato recorded the words, “For a man to conquer himself is the first

and noblest of all victories.” This is the greatest struggle with the constraints of the clock

of life, ticking at what seems to be an ever-quickening pace. The work of the

philosophers and playwrights during the Golden Age all taught the lessons of the virtues

of self-examination and wisdom. So early in human history, the Greeks discovered that

life can only be valued if one can value life and “know thyself” in order to make the

clock of life worth every second.

*Sources for this essay include the World History Textbook, “Medea Critical Analysis,” Oedipus
the King by Euripides, Medea Film, the Apology and the Phaedo by Plato, Allegory of the Cave
by Plato, “Socrates” by Garth Kemerling (http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/socr.htm), and
“Quotations of Plato” (http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Plato)